Appliance for railroad cars



Oct. 24, 1944. l M. BRANDON 2,36%,981

APPLIANCE FOR RAILROAD CARS l Filed NOV. l, 1941 /"Qndolz 2 20 v fs# WMMmi?? Patented Oct. 24, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT 4OFFICE APPLIANCE. FORRAILR-OAD CARS Martin Brandon, Villa Park, Ill., assignor to TheChicago, Ill., a corpora- Branco Corporation,

tion of Illinois Application November 1, 1941, Serial No. 417,451

7 claims. (o1. 10s-369)' The panels are wider than the door opening solas to extend laterally beyond the sides of the door opening intooverlapping engagement with parts of the sides of the car body and towhich they are nailed from the inside of the car. Such panels arerelatively eX-pnsive.

must be loosened and removed from the car to permit of the flow or othermovement of the grain out through a door opening.

The present practice in releasing panels of this?" kind from a car is toemploy a relatively long specially formed, metal lever-like bar and prythe panels from their nailed-on position. Generally, the use of thelever-like bar lfor this purpose, results in damage to the panels'tosuch an.

thus resulting in rapid deterioration, but they" are also often stolenfor use as kindling wood. Therefore, it is obvious that the matter of`expense and economic loss in the use of ,convem tional wooden panels ofthis kind is an item of importance to railroad companies hauling vast?quantities of bulk commodity such as grain.

In loading a car with certain commodities, it is often desirable toprovide one or more transverse bulkheads in the car adjacent the planesof the sides of the door openings so as .to leave an aisle between saiddoor openings. Heretofore in providing such bulkheads, wooden panelssimilar to those before mentioned Were nailed' to cleats on oppositesides of the car. In the removal of such bulkheads, the panels `werepried from the cleats and this often resulted in such damage to thepanels as to require a repair thereof.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide an appliancefor a railroad car, which may be used to provide either a grain doortherefor or a transverse bulkhead therefor and which appliance thoughlight in weight, is strong and durable While costing less than theconventional structures used for the same purpose.

In unloading*y l bulk grain from the car, one or more such panelsAnother object of the invention is to provide an appliance adapted foruse in pairs in connection with the side door opening of a car forclosing the bottom portions thereof and made of such thin sheet materialas to have vbut little resistance in itself to bulging pressure butincluding parts for connection to like parts of a companion appliance sothat said appliances mutually coact in bracing one another toconsiderably increase their resistance to said bulging pressure.

A further object of the invention is to provide an appliance of thiskind which may be readily secured in place across a door opening of arailroad car and this in a manner permitting a quick removal of the samefor grain unloading purposes.

Also, it is an object of the invention to provide an appliance of thiskind that may be readily handled and is of such a construction as toserve no purpose other than the intended one so that the consignee ofthe .car so equipped, will have no object in retaining the same but willreturn them to the car after unloading, for reuse.

Again, it is an object of the invention to provide an appliance of thiskind which includes an integral part for an engagement with the floor ofthe car so as to there provide a seal without the necessity of calkingoperations.

The above mentioned objects of the invention, as well as others,together with the advantages thereof will more fully appear as thespeciiication proceeds.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a perspective View of one form of appliance embodying thepreferred form of the invention,y and which may be used either as agrain door or a bulkhead for railroad cars.

Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical cross sectional View through the lowerpart of the body of a railroad car in the plane of the side door openingthereof, to which a set of the improved .appliance has been applied toprovide so-called grain doors therefor.

Fig. 3 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through a part of the.car body as Ataken on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2, v

Fig. 4 is a View in yend elevation, on an enlarged scale, of one of theimproved appliances when folded for storage or shipment.

Fig. 5 is a detail .horizontal sectional view, on a further enlargedscale, through a par-t 0f the ystructure shown in Fig. 3 as ktaken onthe line 5-5 of Fig, 3. y

Fig. 6 is a horizontal -sectional view through the body of a railroad-box car to `which a pair or" the improved appliances have -been appliedto provide transverse bulkheads therein so posi- 'tioned as to leave anaisle between the opposite side door openings of the car.

In general, the improved appliance may be used in pairs 'in a railroadgrain car, one for each side door opening therein or may be usedindividually or in pairs as one or more trans-v Each appliance includesa body of sheet materialwhich, for .the

verse bulkheads therefor.

purpose of economy, is relatively thinand therefore in "itself, has butlittle resistance to the bulging pressure of the grain in the car.appliance, however, :also includes parts which ,may be attached to likeparts of a companion of the invention illustrated in the drawing andLespecially to Fig. lthereof: I indicates an appliance embodying one formof the invention andwhich includes a body portion made from arectangular piece of sheet material such as nbre board or corrugatedpaper board, of a width'y greater than that of a side door opening in arailroad car and of the desired height. At the bottomof the body is anintegral hinged sealing flap or flange II, the hinge being formed by ascore line IIa, and at each side of the body isv an integral hingedsealing flap I2--I2 the hinge of each of which is formed by a. scoreline I2a. The body is preferably formed with a plurality of verticallyspaced score lines I3--I3 which divide that part of the body above theflap Il into a pluralityof horizontal panels,'the middle one of whichhas a height greater than the top and bottom -ones as best appears inFigs. 1 and 3. This scoring permits the body to be shipment as Ashown inFig. 4.

On one face of the body, Iprovide a plurality of braces which rigidifythe body against bulging under the action of the grain or othercommodity in the car. As shown in the drawing, said braces mayconstitute cleats or strips of wood I4 which may be tacked, nailed orotherwise secured to the body of the appliance I0. Preferably there isone of such `braces secured to and extending along the longitudinalmedian line of each panel before mentioned. The length of said bracingstrips I4-I4 is preferably less than the width of the car door openingwith which the appliance may be associated and in each panel, at or nearthe top and bottom edges of each cleat I4 are longitudinally spacedpairs of small openings IFJ-I5, best indicated in Fig. 5.

Associated with each cleat I 4 is a.plurality of ilexible tie membersIIS-I6 capable of resisting considerable tension. The mid portion ofeach `tie member is disposed in engagement about the outer face of thetop and bottom edges of the vcleat while the end portions pass throughthe openings I--I5 to extend inwardly from the inner face of the body'.Thus each appliance is a self-contained unit, ready for application to arailroad car body indicated as a whole at I1.

Such a car body includes a door I8, and upright sides I9 having a dooropening 20 therein. Usually each door opening is dened at the sides byupright side posts 2l, the inner face Yof which is usually arrangedflush with the in- `ner face of the associated-*side I9 of the car.

Each

It is to be understood that when the improved appliances are to be usedas grain car doors, one of thel improved appliances is employed inconnection with each dooropening 20 of the car body. In applying saidappliances, the same is carried out from inside the car body. One

' appliance is so positioned with respect to a door opening that endportions of the body, which include the flaps I2-I2, extendapproximately an equal distance laterally beyond each side post 2l toprovde'a good overlap upon the adjacent parts ofthe side I9 of the car,with the score line I Ia coincident with the inside corner formed by thesides of the car and the floor and with the flap Il engaged upon thefloor. The flap II is nailed to the floor as indicated at 22 and thenthe end portions'of the body including the naps I2-I2 are nailed to theside of the car as indicated at 23. Another appliance is then similarlypositioned with respect to the other door opening of the car. Thisleaves theV tie members I6 of both appliances extending inwardly intothe car. Theworkrnan making the application then connectsA the'like endsof the tie elements of one appliance to the like elements of the otherappliance, as best appears at |63: in Fig. 2.

The tie elements are preferably made of metal bands or wires. The ends4of the tie elements of both appliances kmay be joined or connectedtogether in any suitable `manner so that when joined they becomerelatively taut and act as tensioned connecting elements.

-When the car is loaded with bulk grain 24, as shown in Fig. 2, it isapparentthat the pressure thereof on the body of the appliances tendsto` bulge them outwardly. However, the cleats Ill brace the body of eachappliance against this ressure and as the a. liances on op osite sidesfolded into a compact condition for storage andIl o p pp p of the carare connected by the tensioned tie elements I6, the appliances coactthrough the tension members I6 -to brace each other against thebulgingpressure so that they are held in position in a relatively smootheven condition.

By means of the construction mentioned, each appliance seals theassociated door opening 20 against leaking grain and reduces loss inthis respect.

When it is desired to unload the bulk grain. one or both of theappliances may be pried away from its closure position withA the samelever-like tool now used in removing ythe conventional wooden door forthe same purpose.

'In Fig. 6, a pair of such appliances is illustrated as being used toprovide longitudinally spaced bulkheads in the car, with each bulkheaddisposed in the plane of the door posts on opposite sides of the car.This' leaves an aisle 20a between the door openings 20k-2 0 at oppositesides of` the car. In this respecty it is pointed out that the distancebetween the score lines I2a-l2a and which define the width of the panelsof the body,

the car and the cleats of said appliances are di'sposed toward theaisle. The flaps II and I2 are then nailed to the sides and the floorrespectively r ofthe car and the free ends of the tension members IB-IGare then anchoredV to a fixed part of ..the car. This fixed'part jof thecar is illustrated' in Fig. 6 asbeing the .associated end 19a of thetension memsure of said commodity tends to bulge the appliances towardthe aisle a. This pressure, however, places the members |6-I6 undertension so that they hold the body of the bulkheads against saidpressure, which tends to bulge them.

The improved appliance is light in weight and is also strong anddurable'. It costs considerably less than the conventional wooden panelsnow used for the same purpose. It is proof against leaking grain and maybe readily applied to the car. Also, its value for use other than itsintended one is so small as to discourage the removal of the appliancefrom the car when the same is unloaded. As the appliances are capable ofbeing folded for storage and shipment, a considerable amount of storageand shipping space is saved.

While in describing the invention, I have referred in detail to theform, arrangement and construction of the parts involved, the same is tobe considered only in the illustrative sense so that I do not wish to belimited thereto except as may be specifically set forth in the appendedclaims.

I claim as my invention:

l. In combination with a railroad car having a floor and opposed sidewalls, each with a door opening therein, an appliance closing at leastthe bottom part of each opening, and embodying therein a body portion ofrelatively thin sheet material wider than the associated door openingand having end portions extending laterally beyond said opening andattached to the associated side of the car, means carried by the bodyportion of each appliance for bracing the same against the bulgingpressure of the grain in the car, and tension means extending betweenand connecting the body portions of said appliances together.

2. In combination with a railroad car having a oor and opposed sidewalls, each with a door opening therein, an appliance closing at leastthe bottom part of each opening, and embodying therein a body portion ofrelatively thin sheet material wider than the associated door openingand having end portions extending laterally beyond said opening andattached to the associated side of the car, a plurality of members xedto the body portion of each appliance for bracing the same against thebulging pressure of the grain in the car, and tension elements extendingbetween and operatively connecting the bracing members of one appliancewith the bracing members of the other appliance.

3. In combination with a railroad car having a floor and opposed sidewalls, each with a door opening therein, an appliance closing at leastthe bottom part of each opening, and embodying therein a body portion ofrelatively thin sheet material wider than the associated door openingand having end portions extending laterally beyond said opening andattached to the associated side of the car, a plurality of members fixedto the outer surface of the body portion of each appliance for bracingthe same against the bulging pressure of the grain in the car, andtension elements extending through and between the body portions of saidappliances and engaged with and connecting the bracing members on saidappliances together.

4. In combination with a railroad car having a floor and opposed sidewalls each with a door opening therein, an appliance closing the bottompart of each door opening and embodying therein a body portion ofrelatively thin sheet material wider than the associated door openingand having end portions extending laterally beyond said opening andattached to the associated side of the car, the bottom part of said bodybeing formed as an inwardly extending sealing flange that is attached tothe floor, along the bottom of the door opening, means carried by thebody portion of each appliance for bracing the same against the bulgingpressure of the grain inthe car, and tension elements extending betweenand connecting the body portions of said appliances together.

5. In combination with a railroad car having a licor and opposed sidewalls, each with a door opening therein, an appliance closing the bottompart of each door opening and embodying therein a body portion ofrelatively thin sheet material wider than the associated door openingand having end portions extending laterally beyond Asaid opening andattached to the associated side of the car, the bottom part of said bodybeing.

formed as an inwardly extending sealing liange that is attached to thefloor, along the bottom of the door opening, a plurality of bracingelements on the outer surface of each appliance, and tension membersengaged with the bracing members of said appliances and extendingthrough said body v}ooi.tons thereof and operatively connected together.

6. rThe combination of a car structure having door openings in oppositesides thereof, ap-

pliances for closing the bottom portion of said openings, each includinga piece of relatively thin sheet material extending across theassociated door opening, each piece of sheet material being wider thanthe associated door opening and having marginal end portionsthat projectbeyond the sides of said door opening and overlap and are attached tothe inner face of the associated side oi the car, and means extendingbetween and secured to the pieces of sheet material of both appliancesand acting as a tension means to limit the outward bulging of saidpieces of sheet material of both appliances under the action of thegrain in the car.

7. The combination of a'car'structure having door openings in oppositesides thereof, appliances for closing the bottom portion of saidopenings, each including a piece of relatively thin sheet materialextending across the associated door opening, each piece of sheetmaterial being wider than the associated door opening and havingmarginal end portions that project beyond the sides of said door openingand overlap and are attached to the inner face of the associated side ofthe car, means disposed upon the outer face of the piece of sheetmaterial of both doors for bracing the same, and means secured to andextending between the bracing means for the pieces of sheet material ofboth appliances and acting as a tension means to limit the outwardbulging of said pieces of sheet material of both appliances under theaction of the grain in the car.

MARTIN BRANDON.`

